Experience

In order to level a character up it is necessary to get more experience. Currently there is only one source for experience in this game, which is killing monsters. Every monster gives experience depending on the type of the monster, its rarity, the area level and certain stats affecting the monster or the area it is in. The amount for the next level increases very fast.

Experience penalties

Experience penalties at varying character and monster levels.

The player suffers a penalty to experience gained if the player is too far above or below the monster's level. There is a safe level range where no penalty is applied, which is equal to three plus one for every sixteen complete player levels:[1]

Level Range

Safe Zone

1-15

3

16-31

4

32-47

5

48-63

6

64-79

7

80-95

8

96+

9

For example, a level 24 character has a safe zone of 4 levels. Any additional level difference in excess of this safe range is the effective level difference. So from monster level 20 to 28, there is an effective difference of 0; at monster levels 19 and 29, the effective difference is 1.

A monster at a certain level will give a certain amount of experience. If the player is outside the safe zone the following multiplier will be applied to the raw experience earned from the monster, with a minimum of 1% of the raw experience:

The plot below displays how the experience penalty varies with different zone and player levels. Notice that the safe zone with no experience penalty gets larger with higher player levels and that near max level it is impossible to play with no experience penalty.

By following the safe zone recommendations for each player level a high experience gained per map ratio is guaranteed. However that does not necessarily mean it is the most efficient use of a players time. For example the difficulty in the safe zone might be too high leading to the map being cleared slowly and a low experience gained per hour even if the experience gained per map is high. Therefore to level efficiently a high experience gained per hour is necessary, not staying inside the safe zone of the experience penalty.

Areas with monster level above 70 are considered to have a lower monster level for the purpose of experience penalty calculations.[2] This has no effect on the stats of the monsters in the area or the loot that those monsters drop.

Monster level

Map tier

Effective monster level

70

3

70

71

4

70.94

72

5

71.82

73

6

72.64

74

7

73.40

75

8

74.10

76

9

74.74

77

10

75.32

78

11

75.84

79

12

76.30

80

13

76.70

81

14

77.04

82

15

77.32

83

N/A

77.54

84

N/A

77.70

Combining together the experience penalty for high level characters and the adjustment of monster level, here are some example sets of experience penalties, one for tier 8 (Effective monster level 74.10), one for tier 10 (Effective monster level 75.32), and one for tier 15 (Effective monster level 77.32).

Tier 8

Tier 10

Tier 15

Player level

Safe Zone

Effective Diff

XP Multiplier

Effective Diff

XP Multiplier

Effective Diff

XP Multiplier

94

8

11.9

0.06917

10.68

0.09613

8.68

0.17129

95

8

12.9

0.04933

11.68

0.06746

9.68

0.11734

96

9

12.9

0.04580

11.68

0.06261

9.68

0.10876

97

9

13.9

0.03360

12.68

0.04523

10.68

0.07660

98

9

14.9

0.02510

13.68

0.03329

11.68

0.05497

99

9

15.9

0.01906

14.68

0.02494

12.68

0.04018

So a level 99 player will be earning 1.9% experience for clearing tier 8 content, 2.5% experience for clearing tier 10, and 4% experience for clearing tier 15. In practical terms, this means that if the player can clear a tier 8 more than twice as fast as a tier 15, they will be much better off clearing tier 8 content when looking at experience efficiency per hour (because 4.0 is a bit more than two times 1.9). And if they can clear tier 10 content at most 31.5% slower than tier 8 content, then they are better off clearing tier 10 content (because 2.5% is 31.5% more than 1.9%). Bear in mind that this changes with player level and with the density of monsters in a map as well.

An additional consequence can be seen by the difference in XP multiplier across different levels. For example, tier 10 content at level 94 gives 9.6% experience, but at level 99 only gives 2.5% experience. This means that if a level 94 and 99 were to theoretically do the same tier 10 content (separately from each other), it would take the level 99 approximately 3.84 times longer doing the same content to gain the same absolute amount of experience. In other words, if a level 94 were to gain X million experience in tier 10 maps in one hour, then it would take the level 99 about 3 hours and 50 minutes to gain that same X million experience if they were going at the same pace.

As an example using only tier 10 content as a guideline, the penalties for level 90 and above, expressed with the amount of time relative to leveling up from level 90 to 91 (using level 90->91 as a baseline), we can come up with a table showing what share of total time from level 90 to 100 a given level will take, as well as the cumulative progress towards level 100. Looking at the below chart, level 95->96 will take about 8.41% of the total time, and once you are complete with that level (in other words, base level 96), you will be 23.58% complete with progress towards level 100. Additionally, it will take about 6.576 times longer going from level 95 to 96 than it took to go from 90 to 91, as there is 1.46 times as much absolute XP to gain for that level, and the multiplier is 4.5 times lower at level 95 than at level 90, so 4.5 times less experience gained per unit time * 1.46 times as much experience to gain = 6.57 times longer to go from 95->96 than to go from 90->91.

Player level

Safe Zone

Effective Diff

XP Multiplier

XP

XP Adjustment

Time to level

Percent of total time

Cumulative progress

90

8

6.68

0.30355

160,890,604

1

1

1.28%

1.28%

91

8

7.68

0.22507

173,648,795

1.079

1.456

1.86%

3.14%

92

8

8.68

0.16770

187,372,170

1.165

2.108

2.70%

5.84%

93

8

9.68

0.12619

202,153,736

1.256

3.022

3.87%

9.70%

94

8

10.68

0.09613

218,041,909

1.355

4.279

5.47%

15.17%

95

8

11.68

0.06747

235,163,399

1.462

6.576

8.41%

23.58%

96

9

11.68

0.06261

253,547,862

1.576

7.640

9.77%

33.36%

97

9

12.68

0.04523

273,358,532

1.699

11.402

14.58%

47.94%

98

9

13.68

0.03330

294,631,836

1.831

16.694

21.35%

69.29%

99

9

14.68

0.02494

317,515,914

1.973

24.017

30.71%

100.00%

Note that changing the tier between 4 and 15 for the above chart does not change the percentage values very much, in each case, no matter which monster level the zone is, base level 98 will still be roughly 50% of the way from 90->100, and base level 99 will still be roughly 70% of the way. It works out this way because the XP multiplier only starts to bottom out at 1% when you're level 99 and running a tier 3 (effective monster level 70) zone; in higher level zones, the XP penalty formula decreases approximately linearly, and keeps roughly the same proportion between each level. This is where the efficiency aspect comes into play again. At level 99, if you can clear a tier 10 zone at most 2.5 times as slowly as a tier 3, you're better off running a tier 10 instead of a tier 3 (multiplier for level 99, tier 3 = 0.01, multiplier for level 99, tier 10 = 0.025). Similarly with Level 90 players, but it's more dramatic, as Level 90 tier 3 multiplier = 0.064, and Level 90 tier 10 multiplier = 0.306 [4.78 times as much]. So you'd need to clear a tier 3 at least 5 times as fast as a tier 10 on a level 90 character in order to be efficient.

Comparing experience gains at high levels

We can use the efficiency calculations from above to show how much experience a player of a given level must get per unit time in order to be achieving the same experience per unit time of another player level, taking into account experience penalties. If two characters are running tier 11 content, we can compare how much one is getting versus how much the other should be getting in order to keep pace with the other.

For example, using the chart below: a level 91 character must get 7.00 times as much experience per unit time as a level 98 player to be keeping the same pace.

A level 80 character must be getting 3.79 times as much experience per unit time as a level 91 character to be keeping the same pace.

Level

Safe Zone

XP Multiplier

Units of Experience

80

8

100.00%

35.58

26.48

19.37

13.90

12.90

8.99

6.81

5.09

3.79

2.81

2.11

1.62

1.30

1.12

1.02

1.00

81

8

100.00%

35.58

26.48

19.37

13.90

12.90

8.99

6.81

5.09

3.79

2.81

2.11

1.62

1.30

1.12

1.02

1.00

82

8

100.00%

35.58

26.48

19.37

13.90

12.90

8.99

6.81

5.09

3.79

2.81

2.11

1.62

1.30

1.12

1.02

1.00

83

8

100.00%

35.58

26.48

19.37

13.90

12.90

8.99

6.81

5.09

3.79

2.81

2.11

1.62

1.30

1.12

1.02

1.00

84

8

99.98%

35.57

26.48

19.37

13.90

12.89

8.99

6.80

5.09

3.78

2.81

2.11

1.62

1.30

1.11

1.02

1.00

85

8

97.63%

34.73

25.86

18.91

13.57

12.59

8.78

6.64

4.97

3.70

2.74

2.06

1.58

1.27

1.09

1.00

86

8

89.68%

31.90

23.75

17.37

12.46

11.56

8.06

6.10

4.57

3.39

2.52

1.89

1.45

1.17

1.00

87

8

76.75%

27.30

20.33

14.87

10.67

9.90

6.90

5.22

3.91

2.91

2.16

1.62

1.24

1.00

88

8

61.72%

21.96

16.34

11.95

8.58

7.96

5.55

4.20

3.14

2.34

1.73

1.30

1.00

89

8

47.47%

16.89

12.57

9.19

6.60

6.12

4.27

3.23

2.42

1.80

1.33

1.00

90

8

35.59%

12.66

9.42

6.89

4.95

4.59

3.20

2.42

1.81

1.35

1.00

91

8

26.42%

9.40

7.00

5.12

3.67

3.41

2.37

1.80

1.35

1.00

92

8

19.63%

6.98

5.20

3.80

2.73

2.53

1.76

1.34

1.00

93

8

14.69%

5.23

3.89

2.85

2.04

1.89

1.32

1.00

94

8

11.12%

3.96

2.95

2.15

1.55

1.43

1.00

95

8

7.75%

2.76

2.05

1.50

1.08

1.00

96

9

7.19%

2.56

1.91

1.39

1.00

97

9

5.16%

1.84

1.37

1.00

98

9

3.78%

1.34

1.00

99

9

2.81%

1.00

Figuring out how long it will take to get from one level to a different level

We can say that if we're going a specific speed at a given level in a given tier of content, then we can compute how fast you'll move to a different level.

Show the math-heavy explanation of how the table gets generated

For example, going 10 Million XP/hour at level 96, we can compute how fast we will get to 97, 98, 99, and 100 if we continue at the same pace which was giving 10 Million XP/hour at level 96 by adjusting for each level based on the XP multiplier for that level, and then dividing the total amount of XP required to get to the next level by the rate at which we're gaining XP.
Starting at base level 96, we need 253.5 Million XP to get to level 97, and we know that if we're going 10 Million XP/hour, it will take 25.35 hours (253.5/10 = 25.35). We also know that the XP multiplier at level 96 is 1.39 times higher than at level 97, so at level 97, we'd be gaining XP at 10/1.39 = 7.19 Million XP/hour, and level 97 takes 273.3 million XP, therefore, it will take 38.01 hours to go from base 97 to base 98, then we can compute the difference between the level 96 multiplier and the level 98 multiplier (or between 98 and 97, we just need to use the correct amount of XP/hour in the formula). The whole formula would look like: 253.5/10 + 273.3/(10/1.39) + 294.6/(10/1.91) + 317.5/(10/2.56) = 200.88 hours.

Now, you might look at that and wonder why higher tier content means that you're going slower. The reason is that we're calculating independent of how much XP each individual Map would give, we're only concerned with the tier, and we're telling it that we're getting a given amount of XP at level 96 in that tier. The XP Multiplier drops off slightly differently between different tiers, and bottoms out much more quickly at lower tiers. This is where changes in map type for efficiency come into play. If you can actually meet a given XP rate in a given tier of map, there is going to be a sweet spot in terms of which tier of maps you would actually want to run. In practical terms, people run maps for a given layout and density.

You will note that it simply would not be possible to run enough Level 67 zones in an hour to get 200 M XP/hour at level 96. It is, however, possible [though practically out of reach for all but the most insane of players] to run enough tier 11 maps to get 200 M XP/hour at level 96 (translates to 78.13 M/hour at 99). Note that at level 99 the tier 11 content that was giving a pace of 200 M/hour at 96 is now giving a pace of 78.13 M/hour; and the Level 67 content that was giving a pace of 200 M/hour at 96 is now giving a pace of 194 M/hour at level 99 because the XP multiplier is just 1% for level 97+ players running Level 67 content.

Another way to think of this discrepancy is due to XP efficiency between the different tiers. The XP multiplier at level 96 for Level 67 content is 1.03%, and for tier 11 content is 7.19%. This means you will generally be gaining 6.98 times as much XP doing tier 11 content as you will be gaining in Level 67 content. It is a bit difficult to actually state how much someone would be gaining, simply because you cannot do a direct comparison between the two. They are different monster levels and give different raw experience, but in general, it should be a good measuring-stick to tell that you would need to run about 7 times as many Level 67 zones as tier 11 maps in the same amount of time to get the same amount of experience. It doesn't quite work like that, but it should be close.

This also shows that the difference in XP multiplier governs how much you'll be gaining at a given level within a given tier of content. So notice that the level 67 zones bottom out at 1% XP Multiplier at level 97, 98, and 99. This means that if you are able to gain a given amount of XP at level 97, you will gain the same amount of XP at level 98 and 99. The XP Multiplier drops down to the minimums much more quickly (or degrades more slowly) for lower level content due to the way the XP Multiplier formula works. So this means that you are not slowing down as much in terms of XP gains when you increase in level. This also means that we should be able to find a theoretical sweet spot for Map tier versus XP gained through empirical tests. Because it is clear that it takes much longer to get to level 100 while running level 67 content than it does while running tier 11 content.

Great! Now maybe we know that we just want to run tier 11 content from 80 to 100. How long will it take?
We can re-arrange the formula from calculating the 96->100 values to insert an X for the amount we gain per hour:

So at 400 Million XP/hour at level 80, you'd expect it to take 94.34 hours to hit level 100.

And at 100 Million XP/hour at level 80, you'd expect it to take four times as long, so 377.37 hours to hit level 100.

We can see that this is actually a very simple formula when we pre-compute most of it, and we'll end up with just a single division operation. We can therefore generate a table for tier 11 content, showing the Numerator of the division operation (expressed in Millions of XP), so that we can quickly compute how long it will take to go from one level to a different level. It is also important to note, that for most tiers, these values will not change much, and particularly for tiers near to 11 (such as tiers 8-13), this table should be close enough to get a very accurate estimate of the time it will take. Note the numerator for 80->100 in the table is slightly different from the value calculated above, because above just rounded the XP from one level to the next, and the table uses the exact values.

To use this table, find your level in the left-hand column, and then the level you would like to reach on the top row. Where they intersect gives you a "Raw XP" value (in Millions), which you can divide by your XP/hour, to see how long it'll take to get from one level to the next. You can also subtract out the XP you've gained in your current level (in Millions) from the value, and divide, in order to get a better estimate.

To Player Level

From Player Level

100

99

98

97

96

95

94

93

92

91

90

89

88

87

86

85

84

83

82

81

80

37735.25

26439.49

18636.51

13341.55

9817.23

6784.60

4824.42

3448.62

2493.99

1836.64

1384.52

1070.54

846.88

680.34

548.38

436.20

334.83

241.07

154.33

74.13

81

37661.11

26365.34

18562.37

13267.40

9743.08

6710.46

4750.27

3374.48

2419.84

1762.49

1310.37

996.39

772.73

606.20

474.24

362.06

260.69

166.92

80.18

82

37580.91

26285.14

18482.17

13187.21

9662.88

6630.26

4670.08

3294.28

2339.64

1682.30

1230.18

916.19

692.54

526.00

394.04

281.86

180.49

86.73

83

37494.17

26198.40

18395.43

13100.47

9576.14

6543.52

4583.33

3207.54

2252.90

1595.55

1143.43

829.45

605.79

439.26

307.30

195.12

93.75

84

37393.97

26100.15

18298.52

13004.47

9480.76

6448.66

4488.81

3113.25

2158.78

1501.55

1049.50

735.58

511.96

345.45

213.51

101.35

85

36415.92

25387.60

17769.38

12599.79

9158.91

6198.09

4284.32

2941.09

2009.06

1367.28

925.86

619.31

400.95

238.36

109.52

86

33347.54

23218.00

16220.64

11472.35

8311.89

5592.37

3834.56

2600.81

1744.73

1155.25

749.81

468.24

267.68

118.34

87

28439.11

19769.77

13781.10

9717.29

7012.43

4684.93

3180.52

2124.62

1391.94

887.44

540.44

299.47

127.81

88

22766.23

15794.87

10979.15

7711.28

5536.19

3664.56

2454.80

1605.71

1016.54

610.85

331.81

138.03

89

17403.01

12041.44

8337.74

5824.47

4151.64

2712.20

1781.79

1128.77

675.64

363.63

149.03

90

12935.73

8916.03

6139.27

4255.02

3000.85

1921.67

1224.12

734.53

394.81

160.89

91

9483.20

6499.24

4437.96

3039.21

2108.20

1307.09

789.27

425.83

173.65

92

6917.00

4699.92

3168.38

2129.11

1437.37

842.14

457.41

187.37

93

5037.94

3378.18

2231.65

1453.63

935.78

490.18

202.15

94

3660.85

2404.36

1536.39

947.41

555.38

218.04

95

2400.06

1524.13

919.05

508.46

235.16

96

2008.49

1195.84

634.48

253.55

97

1259.35

676.20

273.36

98

721.15

294.63

99

317.52

A few quick examples:

Level 86 to 93, when we are going 45 million XP/hour at 86 takes 2600.81/45 = 57.80 hours.

Level 90 to 100, when we are going 100 million XP/hour at 90 takes 12935.73/100 = 129.36 hours.

Level 92 to 95, when we are going 30 million XP/hour at 92 takes 842.14/30 = 28.07 hours.

If you're 83 Million XP into Level 97 and want to go to level 100, and you are gaining 25 Million XP/hour at level 97: (1259.35 - 83)/25 = 47.05 hours.

Party play

Base experience per monster for players is the same as if they were playing solo, meaning a monster with 1000 base experience in solo play will have a base experience of 6000 in a party of 6, but the final amount received to the player's depends on player's level relative to other party members and monsters.[3]

The usual experience penalty that can come from monster level applies, but experience is also redistributed to higher level characters. This is intended to balance the high experience requirements at higher levels. Monsters experience is awarded only to nearby (roughly two screens) party members.[4]

Player X's "share" of the experience gained is (PlayerLevel+10)^2.71 divided by the sum of all, n, player's shares:[5]

Items that alter experience gain

Item

Stats

Death and TaxesDeath and TaxesNecropolis MapMap Level: 79Map Tier: 12Guild Character: ¿Item Quantity: +150%Unique Boss deals (30-35)% increased DamageUnique Boss has (25-30)% increased Attack and Cast SpeedUnique Boss gives 10000% increased ExperienceSo the raiders danced,leading their foe ever west,towards certain death.Travel to this Map by using it in the Templar Laboratory or a personal Map Device. Maps can only be used once.

Doryani's MachinariumDoryani's MachinariumMaze MapMap Level: 80Map Tier: 5Guild Character: ‹(20-50)% increased Experience gainMonster Level: 80Found Items have a 10% chance to drop Corrupted in AreaUnique Boss is augmented by Player choicesWe are ever the makers of our own undoing.Travel to this Map by using it in the Templar Laboratory or a personal Map Device. Maps can only be used once.

(20-50)% increased Experience gainMonster Level: 80Found Items have a 10% chance to drop Corrupted in AreaUnique Boss is augmented by Player choices

Hallowed GroundHallowed GroundCemetery MapMap Level: (70-79)Map Tier: 6Guild Character: ÐItem Quantity: +100%Item Rarity: +100%Unique Boss drops 3 additional MapsUnique Boss gives 2000% increased Experience0.5 Flask Charges recovered every 3 secondsMonster Level: (70-79)Some dead have long envied the living.When given the chance, they take from us what they can.So we offer our suffrage.In return, they give only suffering.Travel to this Map by using it in the Templar Laboratory or a personal Map Device. Maps can only be used once.

Mao KunMao KunShore MapMap Level: 75Map Tier: 8Guild Character: ÀItem Quantity: (+100%-+120%)Monsters deal (175-190)% extra Damage as Lightning(60-100)% increased Experience gainMonsters gain an Endurance Charge on HitMonsters gain a Power Charge on HitThe Treasures of the Tides waitin agony at the End of the World.Travel to this Map by using it in the Templar Laboratory or a personal Map Device. Maps can only be used once.

Mutated GrowthMutated GrowthCobalt JewelLimited to: 110% increased Experience Gain for Corrupted GemsCorruptedFew living things survived the cleansing flames.Those that did thrived... And changed...Place into an allocated Jewel Socket on the Passive Skill Tree. Right click to remove from the Socket.

The Perandus ManorThe Perandus ManorChateau MapMap Level: 78Map Tier: 4Guild Character: ™Item Quantity: (+60%-+100%)Item Rarity: (+200%-+300%)(200-300)% more Rare Monsters(30-40)% more Monster Life(16-24)% increased Monster Damage(100-150)% increased Experience gainMonster Level: 78Area contains Cadiro PerandusForget kings and emperors;He who holds the coin holds all the power.Travel to this Map by using it in the Templar Laboratory or a personal Map Device. Maps can only be used once.

Untainted ParadiseUntainted ParadiseTropical Island MapMap Level: 75Map Tier: 8Area has increased monster varietyArea is inhabited by wild AnimalsMonsters drop no items(300-400)% increased Experience gainFor this beauty,beauty without strength,chokes out life.Travel to this Map by using it in the Templar Laboratory or a personal Map Device. Maps can only be used once.

Area has increased monster varietyArea is inhabited by wild AnimalsMonsters drop no items(300-400)% increased Experience gain

Dialla's MalefactionDialla's MalefactionSage's RobeQuality: +20%Energy Shield: 88Requires Level 373% reduced Movement Speed (Hidden)Gems can be Socketed in this Item ignoring Socket ColourGems Socketed in Red Sockets have +1 to LevelGems Socketed in Green Sockets have +10% to QualityGems Socketed in Blue Sockets gain 25% increased ExperienceHas no Attribute RequirementsHe took me by my hand, promised me power beyond compare.But i did not do it for power.I did it for love.And I'd do it again in an instant.

Miscellaneous

Killing monsters that were raised from the dead by any means (revived by Necromancers, Soul Conduit Nemesis Mod, the reviving Strongbox affix) gives no additional experience. Player-summoned minions and monsters spawned by other monsters (ex:sirens) also award no experience. Beyond demons, and monsters from Strongboxes do give experience, however. Attackers in Elreon missions give experience only if a certain number of monsters weren't killed in that mission before (about 170).

There is a 5% experience penalty for deaths in Acts 6 through 10, level 5 and 6 Forsaken Master mission areas, and the Cruel and Merciless Labyrinths. There is a 10% experience penalty for deaths in areas reached through the Map device, level 7 and 8 Forsaken Master mission areas, and the Endgame Labyrinth. These replace the old Cruel and Merciless experience penalties, and are only active in those specific areas. Dying in any Act 5 area (or lower) after completion of Act 5 (or higher) will not incur an experience penalty.

Previously, the most that experience could be penalised to was 2% of the monster's normal experience. This value has been reduced to 1%. This is to encourage players to run content appropriate for their high level.

Tools

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